How The Irish Saved Civilization

How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe

History , European History, Irish History
Paperback Published on: 03/03/2003
£10.99
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Synopsis

'Shamelessly engaging, effortlessly scholarly, utterly refreshing'
Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's Ark

'A small treasure'
New York Times

'This sweepingly confident overview is more entertainingly told than any previous account'
Sunday Telegraph

Ireland played the central role in maintaining European culture when the dark ages settled on Europe in the fifth century: as Rome was sacked by Visigoths and its empire collapsed, Ireland became 'the isle of saints and scholars' that enabled the classical and religious heritage to be saved.

In his compelling and entertaining narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Irish monks and scrines copied the mauscripts of both pagan and Christian writers, including Homer and Aristotle, while libraries on the continent were lost forever. Bringing the past and its characters to life, Cahill captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilisation.

  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
  • ISBN: 9780340637876
  • Number of pages: 272
  • Weight: 200g
  • Dimensions: 196 x 130 x 20 mm

Customer Reviews

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How The Irish Saved Civilization
Excellent survey of the end of Roman Britain and what is known about the next few centuries in Britain and Europe
I loved the title of this book and was led to read it after I visited Tintagel, the Roman remains and exhibition at St Albans, and also the Roman Wall exhi... READ MORE
Sheila Robinson